The “pub” part is still a work in progress, but a brewpub set to open in the Beltline this fall is busy brewing up beer — and buzz.

While the folks who own Last Best Brewing and Distilling get set to renovate a space on 11th Ave. S.W. that will become the newest destination in Calgary’s bustling beer scene, the brewery on site is already producing their four flagship beers: a pale ale, an IPA, a porter and a dark lager.

(As the name suggests, Last Best will also be making craft spirits on site. The Herald’s food writer, Gwendolyn Richards, will have much more on the distillery side of the business in an upcoming article.)

You can find Last Best’s beers on tap at select bars, as well as at liquor stores that offer growler fills (follow their Twitter account or check out their Facebook page for the latest locations) but many beer lovers got their first taste at Calgary International Beerfest last weekend. As debuts go, it was an auspicious one: Last Best’s porter won a gold medal in its category. Dubbed There Will Be Porter, the brew is almost as dark as There Will Be Blood, the oil-soaked movie that inspired its name — though the finish is much smoother and less, um, brutal.

Last Best is the latest venture for Bear Hill Brewing, which owns brewpubs in Banff, Jasper and Fort McMurray. Much like how the porter’s name evokes some local heritage (albeit via a Hollywood movie about oil) the moniker is an allusion to the “Last Best West” campaigns used to lure early 20th Century settlers to the Canadian prairies. Considering how recently the provincial government loosened production quotas and licensing restrictions on the province’s brewers, it’s fitting: Alberta is one of craft beer’s final frontiers in Canada.

“We fell in love with those images and that campaign,” says Socrates Korogonas, one of the owners of Bear Hill Brewing.

“It really ties into the whole Alberta beer movement. Things are happening so fast in Alberta right now.”

The company was eying Calgary for some time and the opportunity recently arose when Brew Brothers, a longtime local craft brewer, closed down and Bear Hill decided to buy its equipment and take over their lease. (Local beer blogger Adam Seguin has an authoritative account of the Brew Brothers story on his Western Suds blog.)

Bear Hill’s plans picked up even more momentum when the leaseholders above the brewery, District and Amsterdam Rhino, also decided to move on. Plans are underway to totally gut and redo the space — which includes a huge, walled patio that promises to be one of best outdoor spots to enjoy a beer in the city once it’s open.

Although Last Best is fourth in a chain of brewpubs for Bear Hill, it will be distinct from the others — just as the previous three are distinct from each other. Korogonas and his partners take great pride in the fact each pub has its own line up of beers, catering to local tastes.

“You can be the custodian of beer for that community, or you can be a megalomaniac and try to force beers on people,” Korogonas says, making it clear they prefer the former.

The Jasper pub has cultivated a following of hopheads — once having four different types of IPA on tap at the same time — says Korogonas, while Banff customers have gravitated toward maltier beers.

“They’ve gone in different directions, which is cool.”

Here in Calgary, the company’s head brewer, Phil Brian, has been busy tweaking the four beers that will be Last Best’s starting line-up:

There Will Be Porter: There’s a definite roasty aroma to this beer that carries into the flavour, thanks to a hefty amount of specialty malts in the grain bill. Brian described the version I tried at the brewery a few weeks ago as a work in progress and he was thinking about “dialling down” the roastiness, but I thought it was nicely approachable as it was at the time. It’s has a mellow, semi-sweet chocolate finish. (I will drink this porter. I DRINK IT UP.)

Last Best IPA: Don’t confuse hoppiness with bitterness — this beer is plenty hoppy, with citrus flavours (grapefruit, lemon) but it’s light and bright and nicely balanced. It finishes a little dry — just enough to make you want to take another sip.

Show Pony Pale Ale: Brian is an Aussie, and his antipodean origins show in his zealous embrace of hop varieties from that part of the world. While it’s more typical for an ale to get its fruity qualities from a particular yeast strain, in this case Show Pony gets its tropical, passionfruit highlights from Brian’s use of Galaxy hops.

Dirty Bird Black Lager: Korogonas says Last Best is intent on drawing a clear distinction between itself and Brew Brothers — but the company is also keenly aware Brew Brothers’ Black Pilsner was a cult favourite in Calgary. In keeping with their “beer custodian” philosophy of giving people what they want, Last Best is brewing its own schwarzbier: “We’ve been getting a lot of requests from people via social media. I think it would have been selfish not to listen, just to distance ourselves from the (Brew Brothers) beer,” Korogonas says.

In addition to the core line-up, Last Best will also start offering seasonals and hopes to have regular cask brews once the pub is open. The gang also wants to experiment with some barrel-aged beers — and already has a stockpile of Jack Daniel’s barrels in basement, waiting for the right time and the right beer.

Once the pub opens, Last Best plans to sell canned beer on site so customers can take it home. The brewery will also maintain its outside draft accounts and keep distributing kegs to local liquor stores for growler fills — but don’t expect the cans to follow. Korogonas says the company has no interest in fighting for shelf space with the mega-brands.

“We really want to make sure the people who are carrying our product understand it and love it as much as we do,” he says.

In a city where craft beer is booming, Korogonas says providing fresh, locally-made brews is what will cement Last Best’s place in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

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